Overheard at our House

Madeline is going to preschool next month. I was reading her the list of supplies...colors, glue sticks, paint shirt, etc. The last thing on the list was a box of Kleenex. She became very excited and said, "Mama, will I get to blow my nose at preschool?" Geez. If she's excited for that, wait until they fingerpaint!

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Madeline was getting ready for bed last week. She still wears a pull-up at night but I had forgotten it upstairs. So I told her that we would put it on once we got upstairs. She went to say goodnight to her Papa (Travis) and wanted to sit on his lap. I told him she didn't have any underwear on.

He said to her, "So what do you have? A bare butt?"

She replied, "PAPA! I don't have a bear (bare) butt, I have a little girl butt."

Too cute.

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I walked into the toy room and overhead Madeline telling Zella, "From now on call me Princess, okay?"

Zella now calls Madeline Princess 90% of the time. Silly girls!

Long Time No Blog

Hello all. I took an unforseen blogging break. We're having a busy summer! A lot has been going on and I have many pictures to share once I get a chance.

But the BIG NEWS is that we are expecting baby #3! We are ecstatic and a little nervous now that we will be outnumbered by our kids. I am 12 weeks along and due in February. The girls are very excited! Madeline told Zella she would teach her all about being a big sister (that should be interesting).

There have also been a lot of "firsts" this summer...

*Zella got her first pair of "big girl" glasses. They have cables that go
around her ears instead of a strap.

*Madeline is going to Bible School for the first time. She loves it!

*Zella finally grew enough hair to wear "piggies" (pig tails). She demands
them every day!

*Madeline is signed up for 3-year-old preschool which starts at the end of
August. We debated sending her but decided with another baby on the way,
it will be good for her. She is ecstatic. It's twice a week for 3 hours.
Zella and I will miss her!

*Zella and cousin Gracie went with Madeline, Aunt Karen and I to Alvin and the
Chipmunks movie yesterday. It was the first movie for Zella and Gracie. It
was so cute to see them clapping and smiling (not to mention cheering) when
the movie began. Karen and I weren't sure if they would even watch it because
neither of them have watched more than 10 minutes of TV before. Zella was
entralled until the last 15 minutes. Then she kept yelling, "I'm done!".

*We watched Grandpa Neil participate and WIN the "Mystery Bag Cooking Contest"
at the county fair. I'll have to post pics and details of that later.

Hope your summer is going well!

More later,

Honesty Hurts

I was wearing a new necklace a couple days ago and Madeline said,"Hey Mama, can I wear your old lady necklace?" I asked her why she would call it an old lady necklace and she said, "Because you're an old lady and it's your necklace."

Gee, thanks.

Three-year-olds can be brutally honest.

More later,
Lori

For All You Moms

You may have seen this before but it's worth checking out again. I think it's hilarious! Comedienne Anita Renfroe did a funny mom song to the tune of the William Tell Overture:

A Visit from Emma

My niece Emma came to visit this past week. She stayed with her godmother and Aunt, Karen, but also got to see Aunt Lori and Granny and Grandpa a lot. Madeline was Emma's little shadow and Zella loved playing with her too.

Unfortunately we got sick on Thursday so we didn't get to see her the last couple of days. But we're so glad she was able to come.

Emma and Madeline had a lot of fun putting on puppet shows at the library for Zella and I.

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day to my wonderful husband, Travis. He works very hard for his family so I can be a stay-at-home mother to our two beautiful kids.

The girls were very excited for Father's Day partly because we made cards and used lots of glitter. Because nothing is more appealing to a three year old than glitter!

Thanks, Travis for taking such good care of our family!

Love,

Trip to Grandma's House

A couple weeks ago I headed south for Zella's eye appointment and Trav's cousin Stephanie's wedding reception. Since I was there I stayed a few extra days and we had a lot of fun. We got to spend time with Grandma Stacey, cousin Katelyn (Carrie's daughter), Aunt Carrie and Aunt Kate, Grammy (Stacey's mom) Aunt Rick and Uncle Judy. We had a great time!

Stephanie looked beautiful and the reception was a lot of fun. The little girls had a great time dancing. They danced non-stop even before the music started!

The funniest part of the night was when Madeline went up to Steph (the bride) on the dance floor. As she lifted up Steph's wedding dress she said, "Hey! You have to move your feet to dance!" And then she danced a little jig. Pretty cute.

The beautiful bride, Steph, with Ashley and Kate

Here's Aunt Kate with two of her nieces: Katelyn and Madeline.

It's hard to believe they are only four months apart!

And I thought Madeline was a tall 3-year-old!

Grandma "Marker" and Zella

Carrie and Katelyn

Zella made a new friend, Keely (Ashley's daughter)

Grammy Norma with the happy couple

Dancing the night away!

We also got a chance to see my friend Jen and her daughters Haley and Addison for an afternoon. The girls had a lot of fun splashing in the kiddie pool. We saw my friend Heidi the next day for a little bit but unfortunately we didn't get to see her boys. Hopefully next time!

What a Long Week

We had a long and tiring week. We (and by we I mean Travis) spent quite a bit of time pumping 3 feet of water out of the crawl space in our basement. Luckily we only had a couple inches in the rest of the (unfinished) basement.

My laundry room is down there and lots of stuff (and by stuff I mean endless tubs of baby clothes, lots of baby related items and of course lots and lots of Trav's art supplies).

Side note: if you are married to an artist then you may know what I am talking about! The guy sees potential in everything and likes to keep random objects "just in case" he can make something with it someday.

Family came to the rescue once again! THANKS FAMILY! My mom helped us go through the stuff in the basement and get rid of quite a bit of it, Aunt Gayle, Uncle Louie, cousins Sarah and Kim watched the girls so we could work downstairs for five hours. We got a lot done and if the rain stays away we should be alright.


This photo is of our backyard after the first heavy rain. After the second day of heavy rain four of the landscaping timbers around our swingset were floating in the yard along with some mulch.

Part of our backyard looked like a swimming hole. Travis has been doing a lot of work in the yard and it was frustrating to see it in such disarray. But compared to all of the flooding in Cedar Rapids, Des Moines and elsewhere in Iowa we are LUCKY to be putting up with these minor inconveniences. Our prayers go out to those who are dealing with flooding.

We also spent part of last weekend in the basement listening to the tornado sirens go off. Scary! The girls didn't know what to think of sitting in a basement full of water. Travis was replacing the outside door to his art studio the sirens went off. It was a little stressful to have the door off the frame with high winds and a possible tornado headed our way. Everything was okay thankfully.

And now our little Madeline is sick. I took her to the doctor this morning and they're trying to figure out if it's a kidney infection or just a virus. They ran some tests and we'll find out tomorrow. Poor girl is not feeling well at all. She is napping as I type this (and Madeline has RARELY napped since she's been 18 months old) so I know she is really sick.

We were supposed to go to see Trav's family for his cousins wedding this weekend but can't go now that Madeline is sick. Bummer.

Enough of my randomness.
More later,